Why The F Am I Getting Grey Hair? The Myths Busted

Worried about going grey? Read this first.

At a certain point in life, we all look in the mirror and start to think, “Gosh, I look old”. And going grey can definitely add to the feeling. But before you freak out about the silver strands that have newly appeared in the mirror, you should definitely bust these myths first.

Myth #1: Stress causes greying

Do you feel like your stressful job is causing you to go grey? The truth is, stress isn’t a factor that causes greying, so you can stop worrying about that. The fact that you started to go grey after getting a new job has more to do with how much time has passed, rather than how stressed you are, and the factor that determines greying the most is actually genetics, not your work-life balance. Now is that good news, or bad news, we don’t know…

Myth #2: You can go grey overnight

Now that you know that grey hair is either inevitable or not (depending on how your parents look), are you worried that you’re going to go grey all of a sudden? Like overnight? Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen. If you know anyone who “went grey overnight”, it’s, uh, because they stopped dyeing their hair.

Myth #3: Plucking makes more grey hairs grow

“If you pluck one grey hair out, three more will come to its funeral.” This old wives’ tale hit the mainstream when Samantha Jones of Sex and the City made this comment about her hair… down there. Good news for all of us: it’s not true! Plucking a grey hair out just means the same grey hair might grow back again, but it’s not recommended to do that because plucking also might permanently damage the hair follicle, meaning it’ll never grow back ever. Hair loss is also a sign of aging, so you probably don’t want to do that.

Myth #4: You can’t stop yourself from going grey

That’s mostly true—except if you’re a smoker. A 2013 study found that smoking was linked to going grey prematurely, so if you find yourself surprised by the amount of grey hair on your head, you may want to consider kicking the habit.

Myth #5: Eating seaweed can help your hair stay black

Japanese people eat tons of seaweed, and Japanese people also have really nice, lustrous black hair. But is there causation between these two observations? Seaweed is high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, so actually eating unsalted seaweed could help your hair become thicker and stronger. Yay! But sadly, there’s no proof that it actually makes your hair stay blacker at the same time. If you want healthy hair, chowing down on some seaweed wouldn’t hurt at all, but if you want to cover the greys, just go for a bottle of cover-up or dye instead.